


Threat Response

by deliquescere



Series: Aurélie is the Mom Friend™ [1]
Category: God Eater 2, God Eater | Gods Eater
Genre: Custom Protag is considered OC?, F/M, Gen, WHO KNOWS????, implied Julius/Protag OC/Gil but idk????, liberal character interpretation by yours truly, will update tags if I get more stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-08 09:26:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8839288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliquescere/pseuds/deliquescere
Summary: Fenrir's Intelligence Center takes over the investigation of the Spiral Tree, and Blood's Captain doesn't take the initial meeting- and reassignment- too well. Gil wonders why.





	1. Hostility

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first work and i don't expect anyone to read this because this fandom is so small, watch me horribly butcher everyone's character (or not BECAUSE THIS FANDOM ONLY HAS ME IN IT APPARENTLY)
> 
> on a side note, I've done a lot of edits because I wasn't satisfied with what I uploaded last night. I will never crash through 2 Difficulties and decide to write a fic on a whim again.

Looking back on it, Gil wondered how he could have missed _this_.

 

Well. He probably didn’t, but at the time he was too focused on sniping back at that that pale boss wannabe from HQ to have called her out on it. And he would have, not because he cared about what the Intelligence Center dogs thought or felt, but because he could see- hell, everyone in the Den surely has noticed it too- how distressed she was over the situation.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Fenrir Headquarters was making a show of turning the Spiral Tree into sacred ground so it could be “free” and Blood was sent on missions around the clock, but updates on Julius were nonexistent. They were all banned from the Executive Section and every question was answered with the same vague platitude. Worse, it felt as though they were being watched for the slightest misstep. A new spring of frustration gnawed at his core whenever the team dropped into the Lounge after a tiring mission, only to see that idiotic no-name officer from IC sneering at the God Eaters like he owned the place.

 

He even threatened Aurélie. Now _that_ he remembered clear as day.

 

_“We’re in charge of you from now on. You know what’ll happen if you step out of line, don’t you?”_

 

Whether it was from a lull in the conversation or the jukebox ending a song at that right moment, the man’s unfamiliar voice rung out throughout the Lounge. Aurélie froze mid-reach for the fruit basket behind the counter while Mutsumi whipped her head towards the confrontation, mouth agape in a silent gasp. Gil recalled seeing Haruomi shifting in the seat beside him, the curl of his smile dropping just the tiniest bit as the humor from their conversation- he forgot what it was about- tapered off in the face of the growing tension. The silence was momentarily broken by the sound of a ball dropping hard; Kanon stopped setting up the pool table to cover her face with her hands, and Gina looked vaguely amused that someone just threatened the Captain of the Blood Unit. Only the subdued noise of Cappy munching down on its artificial vegetables disturbed the icy atmosphere.

 

(He imagined the fatigue had a huge thing to do with how delayed everyone’s responses were; most of the God Eaters in the room had just come back from a mission, Aurélie and himself included. They could be assaulted by a hail of Kigurumi lookalikes and none of them would be the wiser.)

 

Lindow warned them about this. The Intelligence Center was the department responsible for finding “political deviants” and punishing them. That they’ve been reassigned to its direct control without any resistance from Director Sakaki was proof enough of the IC’s clout. They knew damn well how helpless they were in this situation, but to think that some nameless official was waving it over their heads like a free pass…

Aurélie fully turned to face the man, and Gil was reminded of how she looked during that video call with Julius on the Emeth Device, when he announced that he was leaving Blood. Eyes sharp, jaw taut, and hands clenched over the surface of her stomach as if she were holding back an overwhelming wave of emotions by sheer force of will alone. Gil nearly slipped off his stool when Haru slid forward and jostled him out of place, arms fully rested on the counter as he leaned forward so as to view the full scope of what was to come next. Jerk. But to be honest, he couldn't quite take his eyes off the drama either.

 

“You would get to be a productive member of the Intelligence Center, as opposed to this useless posturing you are doing now?” Aurélie replied in that soft, demure voice of hers which Gil had learned to recognize as a sign of “I am _this_ close to kicking your face”. She had always had a reserved way of speaking, which many automatically took as a sign that she was shy. Gil took it that way too until she walked up to him with Julius and Romeo within earshot and very firmly told him to get his shit together _the battlefield isn't the place to bicker like children thank you very much._ He spat out his drink and Romeo visibly paled when he giggled a little too loud and she turned on him next; Julius had the smallest of smiles and seemed... proud of his then Vice Captain toughing it up. But even then there was that warm, fond voice she used with her friends- or with Nana, mostly- and then there was _this_.

 

Instead of backing down, which was obviously the wisest course of action at that moment, the man brushed off his uniform and scoffed. “Funny. Although I reckon anyone from the Blood Unit would have a strange sense of humor, considering your previous Captain aided a lunatic with trying to destroy the world. It’s his mess we’re cleaning up right now, so your lot better learn their place and do whatever we require of you.”

 

Sirens immediately fired off in Gil’s brain and he _swore_ he heard Kanon dropping even more balls on the pool table. Shit. Of course they knew. It was their job to know everything about everyone, after all. But the way he talked about Julius, as if he was there when it happened, as if he knew who Julius was and how Aurélie cared for him and looked up to him until he turned heel and fractured their team, pissed Gil off. Nobody got to talk that way about Blood, not if he had a say in it, and certainly not that way in front of her!

He rose from his seat, fuming, only for his best friend to haul him down again. Haru’s mouth was stretched into a wide, toothy grimace as he shook his head vigorously. Gil shook his hold off and growled, but he recognized what Haru- no, _Captain_ Makabe- was trying to say. Punching an Intelligence Officer, no matter how obnoxious they were being, was… not going to help. It could even get him suspended.

 

But Aurélie… stood up taller?

 

“Your point being, _monsieur_?” He noticed how her accent somehow got sharper when she was mad, and it was flying shrapnel at this point. (Ha. Get it? Point? Because it was shar- okay, that was horrible. Aurélie would be so disappointed in him if she heard that.) Fortunately, she was too busy lecturing a humbug with a clear, commanding voice that could probably be heard even outside the Lounge. “I am one of the **five** living carriers of the P66 Bias strain capable of resonating against Psions, and I am a competent and adaptable combatant despite my relatively new career as a God Eater. I have contributed greatly to the safety of the Far East and its satellite bases along with my companions, and if I have my way I plan to continue doing so until the day I die. If you make designs to remove me from my position should I choose to disobey the Intelligence Center, then do so and be prepared to live with the consequences of having taken a skilled and dedicated fighter off the war against the Aragami. Now, are you willing to make that call?”

 

A moment passed, and the quiet was snatched up with a sigh by their uncharacteristically vicious Blood Captain. “I thought not. Do not make empty threats; make promises.”

 

* * *

 

 “You know, he probably went crying to Feldman,” Gil mentioned off-handedly, days later, as he waited for his God Arc to finish extracting the core from a Marduk. He brushed his fingers over the tip of his cap, peering at their Captain to see how she would react. Knowing instantly who he was referring to, Aurélie- _reserved, elegant, kind_ Aurélie- glanced up after a pause, the setting sun's glow lighting her hair into a brighter trail of gold as her eyes narrowed in mirth, and smirked.

 

“Good.”

 

 

 

~~He was shook in the best way possible after that.~~


	2. Defiance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil notices that the Blood Captain has a few misgivings about their new Corporal. He still isn't sure why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best lol, this explores Aurélie's reaction to the whole 'Livie has Julius's Arc now hudurdur she's the most important person in the Far East Branch and y'all best remember that'
> 
> from our best boi Gil's POV ofc. Will probs switch POVs next chapter, if ever.

Gil thought it was obvious as all hell that Aurélie disliked Livie.

 

It was simply a suspicion when he saw the look on her face when the Corporal sauntered up, moments after they were forcibly reassigned under the Intelligence Center. He had never seen her freeze up like she did at that moment. Whenever anybody complimented Livie while conversing with her, he happened to notice that she politely shoved that topic down a steep decline. Should they ask for her opinion of Blood Unit’s newest overlord, Aurélie answered in a way that gave no forthcoming impressions and cut off the chatter completely. Livie was always referred to as _‘the Corporal’_ , no more, no less.

 

Always in a brittle tone.

 

The reassignment obviously chafed her- and _him_ \- since it pulled Blood away from citizen defense and Psion extermination, which was the field they were assigned to ever since Friar. Now they were classroom cleaners picking up the pieces of chalk around the room while researchers hung devices like decorations all over the Spiral Tree, clocking in only when Feldman called them to work. They were _forbidden_ to take on other missions on their off time. Blood had to be available at all times, he said, in case an anomaly popped up on the Oracle readings of the Tree.

 

That didn’t sit well with Aurélie. It was hard to ignore how the Far East went off-skilter with less God Eaters on an already undermanned crew. And personally, for the longest time since Romeo’s death, Gil felt helpless watching Cradle and the Defense Unit running in and out of the Den Gate whenever the sirens played. Nana could busy herself with blowing up the Lounge Kitchen and Ciel had her bullet editing obsession, but what did he have? Scotch. Lots and lots of scotch. And he never drank during the day. So it was either loiter around like a pathetic freerider or crash into R&D to bother Licca about God Arc tech, and the latter reminded him too much of what Blood could be doing right now instead of this.

“You can help me with my paperwork, if you like,” Aurélie suggested one day when he finally expressed his misgivings. He shifted from one foot to another and cast a gaze over the empty Lobby, then glanced over her shoulder as she flipped through a stack of digital data files on one of the Terminals. The glow from the screen reflected off her blue eyes as she minimized the compilation.

He suddenly felt self-conscious. “You, uh, think I’d do well with that? Ciel’s probably a better choice.” He was good on the field, but writing _actual_ sentences about _how_ they did the thing was…

“As long as you don’t copy Nana’s ‘we totally went BOOM! POW! And they were like RAAAAAGH, flee! Then we won because we’re awesome!’, I think we’ll be fine,” Aurélie replied with a small laugh, and Gil shook his head in exasperation. He was going to bust a vein imagining how Fran would have processed that. Typical Nana. He eventually raised his cap and stared down at her with a smile. “It’s Nana, what did you expect? But if you put if that way… I’ll do what I can.”

 

And this was a topic for another time, but even with Haru dropping in every now and then to tease him about it, Gil never expected he’d enjoy learning how to write after mission reports this much.

* * *

 

The longer he stayed to lend a hand with the documents, the more the number of unknowns regarding Julius’s state and the change consuming the Spiral Tree piled up. Gil avoided the topic of the reassignment and tried to cheer her up whenever she made her rounds, but he wasn’t much of an optimist. That was Romeo’s shtick.

He had to have known that stepping around the issue wouldn’t have kept them in their happy little bubble of ‘Let’s Teach Gil Technical Writing’, where there was only one problem and the world wasn’t as stressful as it really was.

 

Aurélie was changing. She kept her thoughts to herself, shied away from prolonged interaction, and stayed quiet where normally she would have offered encouragement. Just like how she was when Romeo died, except this was a lot less crying and more silent treatment. It started to affect Blood as a whole. Nana was convinced their Captain was eating wrong and was constantly hounding her with an oden sandwich in tow, while Ciel watched by the sidelines or sat beside her in silence, unsure of what to do in this situation. None of them knew what exactly was wrong, and when pressed Aurélie repeatedly assured them that she was simply feeling antsy about the Spiral Tree’s corruption

 

But it got even worse when Feldman marched them off to Friar and had them watch as the Corporal tried to bond with Julius’s God Arc. When the Director, cool and businesslike as usual, turned to them and said that Livie was going to use the God Arc to cut through the Spiral Tree Gil noted Ciel glancing worriedly at their Captain. Just like that. And oh, he expected none of them would have a problem with it.

Oh, sure, buddy. Just _I’ll have this stranger use your ex-captain’s weapon to carve a path to him and considering her record as “The Reaper” of Feral God Eaters, probably_ kill _him_. Any problems with that? No. Nah. Possibly not! Typical insensitive behavior from Fenrir reps, the same way it was back in Glasglow. He would’ve let it slide if this were anything else, but it wasn’t. This was… Julius. A good friend. Gil felt his chest heat up and he reared back, about to launch into an argument when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Aurélie was keeping eye contact with Director Feldman, who seemed deliberately ignorant of his outburst, but her grasp was firm. At first he felt a frisson of irritation that she was stopping him from ripping into the smug bastard, but then he realized that in all of Blood, she had the most to lose. Feldman wanted her to go on missions with Livie to… ease her compatibility rate up with Evoke, which was another burden added to ( _restored_ ) satellite base patrol and Retro Oracle research missions. She was the closest to Julius before he left. The very idea of aiding one of HQ’s people into repossessing his God Arc for _that_ purpose must be breaking her heart.

 

But they had no choice. Nobody knew what had happened to the Spiral Tree that day, and what it would mean. They had to know, first. Divisions in opinion could always be sorted out later.

 

“I wasn’t going to say anything, lady,” Gil grumbled and half-heartedly shook her off. She didn’t spare him a look and answered the Director’s demands head-on, until finally they were dismissed. Soon as they walked out the Lab, Aurélie interlocked her fingers and twisted until they could hear her finger joints cracking.

 

“Captain…” Ciel reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. “This seems to be the only way we could glean information about the Spiral Tree… About Julius.”

 

“I know, Ciel. It doesn’t mean I have to enjoy having to endure the Corporal’s company as much as everyone else seems to admire her for being ‘cool and mysterious’,” Aurélie retorted a little too quickly, and much too sharply to be considered light. Nana visibly deflated- she and Mutsumi were crowing around those exact words just a day or two after Livie had been introduced. Ciel had been attempting her best to connect with the Corporal too, and by the look on her face she was just as surprised as Gil to see the friendliest, _gentlest_ member of their group expressing this amount of vehemence at the prospect.

 

And if he thought Aurélie’s dislike was plain enough to see, this new phase was the equivalent of that time when Satsuki hacked into Fenrir’s Broadcasting System to publicize Yuno’s song.

 

For the first time, Gil couldn’t read how she felt. And that was important. They could work through this, they _had_ to, mostly because it was obviously paining Aurélie to be in this situation. And she had always been a pillar for them, now it was their turn to support her through the influx of stress and negativity she was no doubt experiencing from all the chaos. Blood was a family, and family work through their problems together. Honestly, they’ve run through that hammy cliché so many times now that it was almost normal. Gil was even slightly offended she hadn't learned the drill yet and was trying to keep her rage in check instead of confiding in them.

 

He was determined to get her side of the story, no matter what.


	3. Recollection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the present is drenched too much in memories of the past, and the line separating the two blurs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I JUST FINISHED THE GAME WHOOO I LOVED THAT HAMMY ANIME ENDING WHERE ALL MY CHILDREN ARE SAFE AND HAPPY! I'm sorry I took 10(!?) days to update, generally busy with moving house and other stuff. I did make an outline though so I don't destroy things so much! Thank you for the support though aaaa it means so much???? wHOA
> 
> S/N I took a lot of liberties with certain things that were never (in my knowledge) specified in canon and expanded on Au's background since this is in her POV, I'm sorry if everything's terrible omg  
> S/N full italics for dialogue spoken in foreign lang

_A few months ago..._

 

“Julius! You can’t be serious!”

 

 

Julius turned around, facing his newly appointed Vice Captain as she walked up to him. Now that the meeting was over, it was just the two of them outside Dr. Rachel’s Laboratory, and Aurélie had the chance to say what was on her mind. “I assure you, Vice Captain, I am _always_ serious when it comes to Blood. What is it that bothers you?”

 

Heels clicking a last time against the marble floor before she stopped, Aurélie distractedly waved her hand and stammered. “ _That_. Exactly that. The- the title. I can’t be Vice Captain. I’m barely into my second _month_ as God Eater. Won’t Gilbert or Ciel fit more? Romeo?” She wanted to explain more, but she honestly found herself at a loss when it came to talking with him. Language barrier aside, Julius and Dr. Rachel were always so poetic, letters and phrases tumbling out of their mouths in voices that sounded so clear and melodious that Aurélie found herself unintelligible in comparison. And she knew, deep inside, that she was never going to forget the time she introduced herself in broken, slurred English and he responded in (seamless!) French without so much as a blink. Fenrir never attempted to include the poorer majority into their internationally uniform education program, and Aurélie never dreamt of being in a situation where she had to speak and write past her bare bones knowledge of the global ‘Common Language’. Now, while she appreciated Julius stepping in and acting as a translator between her and the other members of Friar whenever possible, Aurélie didn’t feel right relying on him- or Ciel too- all the time and resolved to acclimate by herself. She felt guiltier whenever he waved her fears aside and reassured her that he was _immeasurably_ glad to help. Yet now that she was fording it alone, every day felt like a dragged out point-and-ask lesson on whatnot and their meanings, learnt primarily by firsthand observation and consultation with a Friar-supplied handbook. Sometimes it felt like an uphill battle because there were days she was convinced all her accumulated knowledge had flown out the window, and there was still an overwhelming amount to take in. She _was_ getting better though; Aurelie resolved to power through with five times the amount of resolve whenever things got hard. At least Romeo’s beanie escaped being called a ‘’ead sock’ this week... But still not enough.

 

Switching to her primary dialect, Aurélie exclaimed, _“To add to those, I can barely understand what everyone is saying, battle or not! Wouldn’t that compromise my ability to lead and hand down commands to the team?”_

 

Julius gently shook his head and his Vice Captain frowned, bracing for the onslaught of words. She exhaled in relief when he thoughtfully answered in the same tongue, _“This isn’t a matter of seniority, Aurélie. I am convinced that you are the best person for this role, for all the reasons I listed earlier. Do trust in yourself a little more.”_

 

_Trust in yourself._

 

 

What an easygoing thing to say.

 

He must’ve noticed the way her expression soured, because Julius closed the gap between them to lay a hand on her shoulder. Aurélie couldn’t help but mirror the growing smile on his face with a hopeful expression of her own.

 

 _“I know your situation is hard. I want you to remember what I’m going to tell you next, Vice Captain, because it is the most important thing for you to remember. We are a team. You are not expected to carry Blood alone. Let us each and all compensate for each other’s weaknesses, and serve as each other’s strengths,”_ Julius said and drew back, confident and self-assured, resplendent with the ethereal stained glass window serving as his backdrop. Aurélie thought she had never seen anything quite as inspirational as Captain Visconti right then and there. _“Ciel and I will carry your meaning to our allies, worry not. Gil’s combat experience will balance Nana’s recklessness and naiveté. Romeo will learn patience and strategic positioning from Ciel. I believe your temperance will curtail conflict before it even begins and your concern will ensure that the team remains not only in perfect physical condition, but also in hale and hearty spirit.”_ He paused for effect, to truly drive the words home, and stared into her eyes.

 

 

**“Blood is your family now, and you must take care of it. As we must of you.”**

 

* * *

 

Aurélie was shaken from her thoughts when the stool beside her was pulled backwards, and a familiar face came into view. Behind them, the Lounge was empty; Mutsumi had gone to bed already, and late night was generally not a stellar time to hang out considering their line of work. The field and the Aragami would knock enough fatigue into you without the help of unhealthy sleeping habits. Touché, Aurélie.

She was surprised to see Gil was awake this time of the night, but even more so that he didn’t have his alcohol with him. Sometimes he would ask her to stay and chat after a mission, and he would nurse his scotch while she gave the bottle the stink eye over a glass of juice. Jokingly, of course, and it would always escalate to the two of them exchanging soft barbs about the dangers of alcoholism- to which Gil would deny and reply was heavily offset by the dangers of having ‘Aurélie-class’ recklessness. Case A was nearly always that time with the God Arc Soldier and the Red Rain. She would always have to agree, because _that_ was brash beyond belief- and she would do it _again_ , for any of them. Case B, the Rufus Caligula… Gil would get quiet, and then say he _still_ couldn’t believe she kicked the damn thing. Aurélie would say she _still_ couldn’t believe he attempted to do that mission without her or Julius’s express approval. Chain of command and all, y’know?

 

Though they both knew Gil would rather face down an entire swarm of Kongou with righteous purpose than follow an erstwhile command from HQ.

 

Now that the Red Rain was gone and their knowledge of each other has deepened, they had the space to reminisce about other things. Judging from his body language, she had the feeling he wasn’t here to ask for a retelling of that story about when the Versailles Branch was graffitti’d with glitter pens all over.

 

“You’re up late. Can’t sleep?” Aurélie inquired, voice tinged with genuine concern that tentatively dipped into playfulness when Gil shook his head. Well, if it wasn’t that… “Let me guess. Haru’s told you about the Holy Grail?”

 

Gil opened his mouth then closed it again. He glanced at her with a small smile, and she noticed how he seemed confused but just the tiniest bit knowledgeable of what she was talking about. “That… actually sounds like a topic I’ll regret picking. Nah, jokes aside, I just… uh, got something to ask.”

 

Oh, dear. He was fiddling with his cap. That was not a good sign.

 

“Why do you wear your cap indoors?” Aurélie blurted out, unable to control herself. Gil faced her with his eyes wide in surprise, and after a moment’s hesitation took aforementioned accessory off and placed it in front of him. The pink dusting his cheeks afterwards was definitely not a figment of her imagination, and she was sure she had the same hue on her face- for the worst reason imaginable. The two of them remained silent for a bit; Aurélie was completely sure that he was embarrassed he did that without questioning why, and she was just as chagrined she ran her mouth off like that. Why the cap of all things, Au? Why? Now he probably thought she was _that_ kind of person, harping on others about their fashion choices when she had the taste of a two-headed slime ball. That or she had a fixation on his cap, which was not true. It actually hid his eyes, which were pretty in the way the sea sounded like in the audio books she had listened to and _the point is she didn’t actually have a thing against the cursed hat_.

 

Aurélie briefly contemplated making a quick run for it when Gil voiced a thought.

“You have a thing against Livie, don’t ya?”

 

A beat.

 

“Wow. That is one way to approach it, Gil.”

Gil did the equivalent of a spittake by lurching in his seat and swiveled away, his back towards her. If he were any less upfront with his feelings, she expected him to launch into an _Erina_ and call her an idiot. _N-not that  I care about it or anything!_ “Hey, ice breakers were never my strong suit. And you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, really. It’s… Well. It’s just something I picked up on.”

 

Aurélie sighed and toyed with the straw on her (lukewarm) apple juice. She would be lying if she said the topic didn’t put her off the drink, no matter the dryness creeping down her throat.

 

“I don’t have a… _thing_ against her. It’s complicated.”

 

She couldn’t convince Cappy with that, much less Gil who was basically her right hand man at this point. Sorry, Ciel. Aurélie risked a glance to the side. Her conversation partner’s shoulders slumped down, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

 

“Maybe I resent the Intelligence Center for taking away the choice from our hands. I…” Aurélie took a deep breath and steeled herself. This was going to be a hard thing to admit, but she owed her teammate an explanation, especially if he went out of his way to bring to her attention that her personal problems were making a scene, “think that this is a problem that exclusively Blood should solve. Not… some elite God Eater hunting sect from HQ. Julius was ours, after all. Isn’t it just fair? At the very least, they should tell us what they’re planning.”

 

Before the silence got uncomfortable, Gilbert murmured. She made a noise to indicate that she didn’t hear what he said, and he repeated himself in a louder volume this time. “I get what you mean.”

 

Ah.

 

Okay, Gil.

 

Seconds passed.

 

“I think it’s-” “Maybe we-”

The two of them started waving at each other to signify ‘go ahead’, and ended up looking like a couple of sleep-deprived ninnies. Thank goodness nobody save Cappy was around. Eventually it was decided that Aurélie would go ahead since she was the one who had something ‘interesting’ to say.

 

She was honestly regretting this. She was the Captain of the Blood Unit, and here she was shoving her drama down her friend’s throat. Gil had his own problems to deal with. But she was just so appreciative of the fact that he asked her what was going on instead of assuming everything was fine, it meant so, so much and… and…

 

“Maybe I hate that everyone looks up to her simply because she exists,” Aurélie whispered and cast her gaze down on her lap, where her hands had clutched on to the fabric of her skirt so tightly the skin over her knuckles were taut. “Ooh, Livie’s so cool and mysterious because she isn’t talking to me and isn’t extending any form of effort to communicate properly! Ooh, Livie takes good care of her God Arc like, say, _every_ God Eater in the branch! Julius’s God Arc fits her so well, it’s almost like it was custom-made! Why is everybody telling me things about her? I don’t want to hear about her! God! Is all the chatter supposed to make me feel better that I am entrusting Julius to this stranger who won’t even tell me if she’s going to kill him or not!? It’s like- I feel like- I have to _like_ her! And I don’t want to, not when I don’t even know anything about her! I can’t even say anything about what _I_ feel about this, because I have to listen to what everybody wants to say- which is basically fawning over every little thing Livie does- and I… I’m an accessory to whatever she and Feldman are planning to do. I don’t know what to do, okay? I just want everyone to stop shoving Livie into my arms, for once! I want everyone to stop telling me how _important_ she is and that she’ll solve _everything_ in the Far East and how she’s _priority_ while everyone else is expe-”

 

 

She cut herself off harshly, breaths coming in short gasps as she covered her mouth with her hands, not even daring to look towards Gil. Aurélie mentally cursed herself and her weakness. She had done such a good job of keeping herself in check, only losing control of her negativity the day Romeo died and rarely since then. But this… This was beyond embarrassing. She had gone and crossed the boundaries of professionalism; Julius would never whine like this.

 

 

“Oh, ugh. I really did it now. I’m sorry. Forget I said anything, Gilbert.” Aurélie brought her palms up and rested them against her cheeks, which were flushed and hot from the rampage of her emotions. She didn’t even understand half of what she said; Gil probably didn’t either. “Shoot. I have a mission with the Corporal too, tomorrow. Just the two of us into the Spiral Tree.” She was just rambling at this point; Gil had remained all too quiet and she was terrified of his reaction that she still didn’t dare a quick peek at his face. Aurélie didn’t remember what else she said, only that she was going on even as she sprinted towards the door, even as the other God Eater was rooted to his seat.

 

 

 

This was why late night talks had to be avoided at all costs; you ended up spilling your guts on the floor, and nobody was going to help you clean up afterwards.

 

 

Aurélie faintly hoped she got mutilated by an Aragami tomorrow. At least then she wouldn’t have to spend more time fighting alone with Livie than she had to, and it also meant she would escape ever having to interact with Gilbert again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ENDGAME SPOILI
> 
> at that moment where you grab Julius outta Rach's titty cavity (dayum Protag's got HULK armssss??) and the camera flashes to you holding him up, I screenshotted Au at the exact moment & it looks like she sayin "don't talk to me or my sephiroth wannabe husband and our three children ever again" yes Romeo is included because cHILD ROMEO IS THE CUTEST OMGGGG, Livie isn't because???? she's like the young trustfund artsy aunt who likes alternative music and smoky bars or smth, Gil's that brother-in-law the daytime drama deprived wife-mom has steamy eye contact with in inappropriate settings idk

**Author's Note:**

> I still think this fandom is hella small. And I don't know how to format. Help.


End file.
